“Fateful moment has come,” I say to myself as I walk off the old, rickety dock onto Mr. Rohrbach’s fire engine red speed boat. Eric, Mitch, and Sam all look excited to be here, but for some reason I am terrified down to my toes. It’s not that I am afraid of making a fool of myself, (even though I probably will), I’m scared of falling into the boat motor, or hurting myself, or even when I crash (yes when I crash) my life jacket will fall off and I will sink to the bottom of the lake. When I get in the boat, we get in the order of who is skiing, and I, of course get to second. I yell yeahhhhhhhhhh, but in my mind is, why oh dear god why.

First is Eric. Since it is Eric’s lake house, he skies a lot. Of course he is AMAZING, which doesn’t help. In fact, I think he is showing off. Thanks a lot Eric. He’s going one handed, in an out of the wake, and waving as we pass other houses. We are all amazed. He skies for another 20 minutes.
After he is done, he gets in the boat, and sits down. Then I realize everyone is looking at me. Of course, it is my turn. I slowly walk to the edge of the boat and hop in the water. The water feels like a tub of ice on my warm skin. But I push that out of my mind, and get focused on the task at hand. The first ski comes and it floats toward me like a crocodile stalking its prey. After I get my skies on I grab the rope. I go through the safety steps and commands in my head.”Sit like a chair, arms straight, and a tight grip and the rope. Easy enough... yeah right.”
When I’m ready, I yell “in gear.” I wait a few seconds until I yell,”hit it.” What a big mistake. The engine of the boat roars like a lion and speeds off at 25mph. My skies fly out from under me. Before I realize what’s happening, I am face down in the water. I am shocked from the impact. It felt like I hit a brick wall. But now I am determined.
I get into position again. Now I’m ready. I yell “in gear” then right away I yell “hit it.” The boat steams off again, and this time I get up. The tension on my arm feels like I am doing a pull up. In my mind I’m thinking “I’m up, I’m up,” but suddenly I’m going down. I hit the water at 25mph…again. I say to myself I can do it, and now I am ready. I yell “in gear, and hit it.” But this time is different, now I am up.
It’s been about 30 seconds and my arms are really tired. It now feels like I am being pulled one way but my arms are being pulled another. But I push that out of my mind and focus on the fun I am having. I now feel the spray of the water on my face and the wind beating agenst my face. Then all of a sudden I am going out of control. However because I am such a beast, I regain myself and decide to focus on the water.
I have been half way around the lake so I am satisfied. I decide to go a little crazy and I go one-handed. It was an epic success. I am going to go no-handed now but that is impossible so instead I decide to go in and out of the wake.
To get out of the wake you have to cross a small hill of water caused by the boat. I go over the small hill with little problems. After I go over the hill, I hear everyone on the boat cheer. The water outside the boat wake is a little choppy, so I decide to go back in the wake. That’s when the problems start. I get over the hill… on one ski. I notice that I am skiing on one ski, so naturally I freak out. I crash in a mess of a heap and the other ski goes flying (again). I get my head above water and I am so proud. I went all the way around the lake with only a few bruises. I get back on the boat and I am greeted by claps and pats on the back. I watch Mitch and Sam do their run, but I could really have cared less. I was too busy smiling to myself.